Save the Crew Releases Downtown Stadium Concept

Save the Crew, the grassroots organization behind the campaign to keep the Columbus Crew SC in Columbus, has released a concept — complete with renderings and a parking plan — for a new Downtown stadium.

The renderings were unveiled last night in front of a packed house at Seventh Son Brewing and were soon making the rounds on social media.

The conceptual stadium would sit on top of an underground parking garage and be paired with a training facility and offices. The plan, as outlined in a 20-slide presentation, would occupy five parcels controlled by three different land owners on the western edge of the Arena District.

The westernmost parcel, which abuts the Olentangy River, is owned by the City of Columbus. An office and residential development proposed for the site in 2015 was never built, and the property remains in the hands of the city.

When Columbus Underground inquired this past spring about the status of the parcel, Director of Development Steve Schoeny said that the Department of Finance and Management was continuing to oversee the property but did not have any firm plans for it.

Most of the remaining land, which all sits on the north side of West Nationwide Boulevard, is owned by Nationwide Realty Investors. That is the land that was once slated to be the site of the Hollywood Casino, before that plan was scuttled and the casino was placed on the west side.

A representative of Save the Crew said that the group did not reach out to any of the existing land owners, describing the effort as “aspirational, to start conversations.”

The bike and pedestrian bridge depicted in the site plan is a project that is being pursued by the city independent of any stadium plans.

Rogers Krajnak Architects and 801 Creative joined forces with a group of Save the Crew volunteers to develop the stadium concept and produce the document, which is available for download at savethecrew.com.

It represents the latest in a string of attention-grabbing projects for the group, including the recent announcement that over 10,000 people have pledged to buy partial or full season tickets for the 2019 season if the Crew is sold to a local owner.

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Brent Warren is a staff reporter for Columbus Underground covering urban development, transportation, city planning, neighborhoods, and other related topics. He grew up in Grandview Heights and has a Master's Degree in City and Regional Planning from OSU.

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Brent Warren is a staff reporter for Columbus Underground covering urban development, transportation, city planning, neighborhoods, and other related topics. He grew up in Grandview Heights and has a Master's Degree in City and Regional Planning from OSU.